21st Dogwood Crosstown Classic Introduction
Article By: Robert J. Leonard, #21676
Photos By: Kris Henseler
22 years ago, Carlton Howard had an idea. Due to the immense popularity of the Dogwood Crosstown Classic, he decided to make the tournament two separate weekends. This set up the Amateur Dogwood Crosstown Classic, the oldest running amateur event in the world, and the Professional Dogwood Crosstown Classic, a stop on the tour that just about everyone who plays disc golf for a living has been to. While the last two Amateur World Champions (Justin Jernigan and Jack Schmalfeld) are past winners of the Am Crosstown, professional World Champions have never had the success in Raleigh that Justin and Jack have.
Despite having played the Pro Crosstown many times, neither Ken Climo nor Barry Schultz have ever won the event during their illustrious careers. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that Barry Schultz will be passing up The Masters Cup, a National Tour stop, to take a chance at finally getting a win in Raleigh. Schultz will headline a field that will include Aleksey Bubis, Brian Schweberger, Brian McRee, Justin Jernigan, Craig Gangloff along with past winners Walter Haney and Larry Leonard.
This year’s Crosstown will be the first time in the 22 years of the event that Cedar Hills will not be played. Cedar Hills will step aside and Buckhorn will step in. The challenging and tight par 58 blue pads at Buckhorn will challenge both the players’ mental and physical game from start to finish.
Day One: Buckhorn
Buckhorn plays in the beautiful North Carolina woods for seven tough starting holes that include two par fours and only two holes less than 300 feet. When you finally reach a hole under 200 feet, you see the true challenge of the course: in the background for the first time hovering behind the eighth green, Harris Lake.
Holes eight through 11 provide the player four birdie opportunities in a row, but also the risk of losing a piece of plastic in the lake and putting a nasty number on their scorecard. When you get back in the woods on hole 12, you may think that the water danger has past, but it hasn’t.
Hole 17 is one of the toughest holes in Raleigh with scores that have ranged from 2 to 15 in tournament play. The 450 foot tight par four seems like a simple three on paper. The challenge of the hole is the basket placement, which rests just 10 feet on the other side of a small lake and guarded by pine trees.
Day Two: Zebulon
Day two of the Crosstown will be played at Zebulon, which has been the Sunday host to the Crosstown for a few years. Zebulon, a favorite of players such as Bubis and Schweberger, has a good mix of wooded and open holes.
Early favorites in the men’s division, other than Schultz, seem to be Walter Haney and Justin Jernigan. Haney has won the event twice and has won the Buckhorn Open (a B tier held at Buckhorn in February) four out of the five times the event has been held. This past year, Haney smoked the field of 27 pros by 11 throws.
Haney has also won the Zebulon Cha Ching and Zing® in the past and owns the four round scoring record there. Jernigan, one of the best woods golfers in the world, has three sanctioned rounds on the blue course at Buckhorn. A 52 in high winds (rated 1054), a 53 (rated 1023) and the course record of 48 (rated 1059). Jernigan finished 2nd at last year’s Crosstown tying Schultz and beating Climo. Jernigan is also coming off a win at the Tarheel Tournament, where he set a course record of 46 (20 holes) in a round that was preliminarily rated at 1088.
The masters division will feature players such as Carlton Howard, Billy Crump and tournament director Kirk Yoo. Bobby Evans out of Burlington NC, is the defending champion, and at the time of print, was not registered for the event.
Local pro Mandi Snodgrass seems to be the favorite in the women’s division. With most of the big name pros in California for the Master’s Cup, Snodgrass will probably boast the highest rating of the women. Terry Frank of Raleigh could challenge Snodgrass, especially at Buckhorn where anything can happen.
The Crosstown has traditionally come to the last hole or two, but without Cedar Hills in the plan, the scores on Saturday should be more varied. Either way, the vision of two successful events 22 years ago by Carlton Howard is alive and well.